Follow the latest news and notes on the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics

April 14, 2013

OAKLAND -- It hasn't been the smoothest of starts for Jarrod Parker, who set the Oakland rookie record for wins last season with 13. Parker is 0-1 with a 6.48 ERA in his first two starts and didn't get out of the fourth last time in Los Angeles, allowing nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. Parker goes today against the Detroit Tigers, whom he faced twice in the ALDS last year, pitching into the seventh both times but having the misfortune of opposing Justin Verlander.

Manager Bob Melvin said this morning he isn't concerned about Parker's early going, and "we're probably talking about this because it's more of a rarity when he is off his game, as far as where he's throwing the ball. I know he's excited about getting back out here and righting the ship and getting back into a routine and a rhythm that we're used to seeing."

Parker did not have a stretch of three consecutive starts of fewer than six innings at any point last season, so he'll try to avoid making that a first today. Here's the lineup the A's will have behind him, with Coco Crisp (groin) out again:

The Tigers will start right-hander Anibal Sanchez, which might factor into why you see Seth Smith batting third (along with the fact that Smith is hitting .500 on the season and had the best at-bats of any A's hitter against Verlander yesterday). In his career against Sanchez, Smith is 6-for-13 with a double and two home runs.

Reddick, who missed three games with the sprained right wrist, is off to a 4-for-33 start at the plate. Melvin said it's a timing issue for Reddick right now and that he doesn't think the wrist is bothering Reddick swinging.

"He's taking aggressive swings," Melvin said. "If that was the case you wouldn't see the type of swings that he's taking."

* Melvin also said infielder Adam Rosales (strained left intercostal) is closer to going on a rehab assignment than shortstop Hiro Nakajima (strained left hamstring) at this point. Both started the season on the disabled list. Rosales took batting practice before today's game and Melvin said the last remaining hurdle for Rosales is turning double plays.

"That's how he actually did it was that relay throw at second base," Melvin said. "He actually might even feel a little better swinging right now than turning a double play or really throwing across his body. So that's probably the last hurdle for him, and once he feels good about that, he'll go on a rehab assignment."

On October 14, The Sacramento Bee will temporarily remove commenting from sacbee.com. While we design the upgrade, we encourage you to tell us what you like and don't like about commenting on sacbee.com and other websites. We've heard from hundreds of you already and we're listening. Please continue to add your thoughts and questions here.
We also encourage you to write Letters to the Editor on this and other topics.

About Bay Area Baseball

Matt Kawahara was born in Sacramento and attended McClatchy High School and UC Berkeley, where he wrote for the independent student paper The Daily Californian. He graduated from Cal in 2010 and started at The Sacramento Bee as a summer intern. He joined The Beeâ€™s sports staff in fall 2011.
Email: mkawahara@sacbee.com.
Phone: (916) 321-1015.
On Twitter: @matthewkawahara.